Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/140

 112 Sloan's Architectural Review and Builders' Journal. [August, not ampty fulfil it. Dante, Milton, and Byron, are notable examples ; but their envious contemporaries flayingly dis- counted the reversion. The giant would have such a happy time, of he could only get down among the dwarfs ; but how difficult is this for him to do. Some- times he tries it, but unluckily some dwarf or other discovers his stature, and tells it among his fellows, after which, the dwarfs are somehow uncomfortable with the giant, and the giant is rendered very uncomfortable amongst the dwarfs. Occasionally a very good-natured, ex- cessively healthy and, therefore, genial giant does succeed, and does little things of routine, custom, or courtesy, so nearly in the manner of the dwarfs ; and man- ages to effect his great purposes so very unobtrusively, that some day he dies, and, lo ! the disconsolate dwarfs can hardly find for him a coffin large enough. How grateful, how gracious, how lovely a thing is appreciation, yet if the yearn- ing lover of his kind cannot have it in his lifetime, let him work on faithfully and cheerfully, doing what good he may, and deferring the result to God. "When we remember how many useful, how many beautiful, things could only have come down to us, from the long past ages, through this self-devoted hope, yet how many more, of equal value, have failed to breast the raging flood of time, we jdeld not an iota of the renown of Vitruvius, who has preserved for us so much of the knowledge of the past. Had he rested in his warm admiration of the older authors, pampering himself with the assumption " that knowledge is power," instead of wisely feeling that knowledge is only the magazine of power — power itself arising from action alone — we should have lost all ; had he been fond of mere passing pleasure or selfish ease, we should have suffered ; had Vitruvius bowed his will to the search for riches, Palladio never could have praised or passed him. But he thought mainly of the diffusion of the benefits arising from knowledge, skill and experience, among men the author never could behold. He loved posterity, and posterity loves him. — The Road to Red River. — Mr. Daw- son, the engineer employed )y the New Dominion government to survey the route from Lake Superior to the Red river, has made his report. He recom- mends that the line should be opened in the cheapest and most expeditious manner at once. The total distance from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior to Fort Garry is 463 miles, comprising 332 miles of navigable water and 131 miles of land travel. Ninety miles of the latter would be between Fort Garry and the Lake of the Woods, where there is abundant means of transport, and 25 miles between Thunder Bay and Dog Lake, where horses and wagons could be easily provided. The principal part of the land carriage would therefore be at each end, with water carriage inter- mediate. The cost of opening commu- nication with Fort Gr,rry in this manner set down at $166,000 over and above the small appropriation made last year. The total trade of the Red river and Hudson's Bay territory is estimated at $4,000,000 annually ; most of which is now done with the State of Minnesota. An inspection of the remains of Stephen A. Douglas was made pre- paratory to their removal to the tomb erected to his memory. Upon re- moving the lid covering the glass, the face of the illustrious Senator was found to be in a remarkable state of preservation, almost as natural as when buried seven years ago. The complexion is verv fair, the contour of the head and face apparently unchanged, and the expression quite natural and plainly recognizable. The hair looks as black and glossy as ever, and the rai- ment as new and tidy as when first put on, not presenting the first evidence of mildew or discoloration.